After
26 glorious years, 14 of them spent happily inside Aroma café, Portrait
of a Bookstore is gracefully retiring. How could we say goodbye after 26
years of such success? In the words of Orson Welles, “If you want a happy
ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” This is
our happy ending. Our official closing date is May 17, 2012.

On May 17, 1986, Julie and Frank von Zerneck, along with their children
Danielle and Frank, Jr., gave birth to this bookstore, which grew to be
a haven, a home-away-from-home, for so many members of this community.
One of the smallest bookstores in the world, “small but mighty,” as we’ve
always been called, our selection of books was impeccably curated, worthy
of the praise of any astute bibliophile. Our gift shelves were always laden
with the best greeting cards in town, beautiful toys, jewelry, gifts for
the home, gifts for readers and writers, gifts for the heart and soul, even
gifts for people who had no more use for gifts. Each of these was chosen
with the utmost care, with our beloved customers’ tastes and needs in mind.
“Everyone who walks in through that door is a guest in our home,” has, for
all these years, been Julie’s mantra. And, indeed, this was our home and
you have been our family.

Over the years, we have watched local writers work in our garden on their
manuscripts, get published and arrive on bestseller lists. We have watched
babies come into the world, learn to read in our children’s nook and grow
up to start families of their own. We have cherished every moment of our
time in this community. Surrounded by love, support and inspiration for
the last 14 years inside Aroma Café, we have loved, most of all, being here
to listen to each person passing through share the details of their lives
with us. Each of you has been incredibly special to us. We will remember
forever and ever the years that we were blessed enough to live at 4360 Tujunga
Avenue.

Thank you, each and every one of you, for the years, the memories and the
love.